10 Tips for Successfully Selecting an ERP System - Tip #4

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Whatever process you have taken, you have finally arrived at the point where your company is going to start the journey of selecting and implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) application.  You have strong executive leadership and buy-in, now what? There’s a common phrase that states, “you only get out what you put into it”. Simply put, how well or poorly you plan a project or initiative will largely pre-determine the outcome. Now, you are venturing into the ERP application space. To select the best, most appropriate application and vendor, there are key points that are common, if not universal, to companies that have been successful with their ERP projects.

In this ongoing series, we’ll share best practices garnered from decades of working with customers whose ERP implementation success was pre-determined by their planning and execution thereof. 

1.     Ensure the Project is Properly Staffed and Budgeted

2.     Establish an Executive Sponsored Project Team

3.     Make a Requirements List but Focus on the High-Level Differentiators

4.     Plan for What You Need Today and Tomorrow. Or as Wayne Gretzky said: “I skate to            where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

5.     Be Open with Your Vendors

6.     Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help 

7.     Limit Your Short List and Schedule Demos Fairly Close Together

8.     Focus on Value vs. Bells and Whistles

9.     Focus on The Implementation Partner during your Selection Process 

10.   Fully Utilize References to Aid in your Selection Process

      Plan for What You Need Today and Tomorrow. Or as Wayne Gretzky said: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” 

Prospects share with us the constraints they want to solve today while needing to project solutions for the issues of tomorrow. This takes a different type of focus. It requires the executive staff to be on board in determining how the anticipated growth is to occur.

For example, in a recent implementation, the client had multiple businesses functioning under separate disparate systems and could not rely on the reporting detail because of the requirement to enter the data multiple times. The executive team was able to identify a large need for process improvement and disseminated that vision to the project team, ensuring that the focus remained and was supported in all the right areas. The transition to the new technology and streamlined processes, allowed the company to ensure all separate businesses were operating within their master plan. This provided better efficiency and effectiveness from order inception to financial reporting.